We are planning on taking our daughter to Europe when she is about 7.5 months old. We are not sure whether to buy a ticket for her on Air France, or holding her on our laps and hopefully having availability of a bassinet provided by the airlines. Air France doesn't seem able to provide much information regarding size restrictions, or how well the bassinets work. We are also interested to know anyone's experience with how an infant does with the time changes.

The one infant I had experience with did terrible with time changes. Totally jet-lagged from Germany to U.S. Up crying all night for two nights straight after arrival in US. Make sure one of you gets some sleep on the plane.

Boy oh boy, do we need to get some discussion going on this one. We too are going with a six month old to Italy in October. We have not gotten to these kinds of details but since my son is going to be born in two days we too need some help. How should we plan this?

I'm sure your babies (and babies-to-be) are wonderful, and this is no reflection on them, but having travelled across only 2 time zones with an infant, I would strongly recommend you leave the babies with grandma and grandpa if you really want to enjoy your trip to Europe. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE babies, but after having been to Europe with older kids, I can safely say I'm very glad I didn't try it when they were babies. Besides, the whole thing is wasted on them at that age anyway. Babies tend to be very un-adaptable. Like I said, we had two solid days and nights of screaming and tantrums while my great-niece got over jet lag from Germany. It was not a pretty sight. I'm sure my niece was very glad they were among family and not in hotels and restaurants while we went through this. You may get lucky, but be prepared.

This leads to a question that has been on my mind for a long time. What age do you think is appropriate to begin taking children to Europe? My husband and I are expecting a baby in a few weeks, and while we are not going to take her to Europe when she is an infant, I certainly don't want to wait 13 years.

Ilisa, although this is getting away from Karen's original question, & you may want to start a new topic on this, because it could spur alot of answer's. We have 2 boy's. We took our oldest son to Europe, when he was 9 yrs old, 2 years ago,for 2 weeks, & it was fantastic. But under no circumstances would I have taken both of them together (at that our younger son was 5.) It would not have been enjoyable. My in-laws live about 3 1/2 hrs from our house & for all our trips to Europe prior to that, we made arrangements for the kids to stay there. Next year when the boys are 12 & 8, we will probably try a trip to Norway with both of them. We will see how that goes. The main things I talked about to my son before going to Europe is the cultures will be different & so will the food, you have to be flexible, & when it is time to rest, you have to rest, & if there is something you want to do, let us know. We had no problems at all on our trip. <BR>

Thanks. I think I just might start a new topic.